Self-help is basically a guide to improving your life. It is a process of self-discovery, self-exploration, self-awareness, self-direction, and self-improvement. In essence, self-help is an effort to discover your potential to improve your life. Self-help is one of the most important characteristics of a person's growth and development; a self-help person is the best company and is capable of undertaking challenging activities and challenges.
In the world of self-help, there are two general categories: those that promote positive psychology, and those that promote self-reliance. Positive psychology deals with the individual's ability to deal positively with others and the world around them. Whereas self-help books focus primarily on the individual's ability to achieve certain desired results in a particular area or for a particular purpose. While some self-help books apply both positive psychology and self-help tips, most focus exclusively on one or the other.
A major component of self-help is the ability to be self-directed. Self-directed improvement is the process by which you design your own self-help program to attain your goals. Typically, a plan or system for self-directed improvement is developed through a significant period of introspection and reflection. Self-directed self-help programs are the most beneficial when they support and reinforce the concept of personal change through an ongoing series of conscious efforts. For example, in the realm of self-directed improvement, a person must take responsibility for his own emotional well being and learn to manage it effectively.
The principle of self-direction is also reflected in the concept of positive psychology. Positive psychology, in contrast to self-help books that emphasize a limited list of self-help tips, emphasizes a set of universal principles that apply to everyone. Those principles include respect for self, the importance of physical exercise, appropriate expression of feelings, and a decreased focus on avoiding discomfort. Positive psychology provides the framework upon which self-help programs are based, and these programs are designed to foster positive behaviors associated with these principles.
As a result, a self-help book can provide valuable information about how to acquire the attitudes and behaviors that promote healthy change. The key issue, however, is determining which self-help book is most helpful. The majority of self-help books contain general advice that may prove to be beneficial to just about anyone.
The majority of self-help books do not address issues related to addiction. According to critics of self-help, this is somewhat of a shame, as self-help should address the issues that concern addiction. Many self-help books address successful change through an individual's willingness to make changes. Some self-help programs require that participants live within a specific environment for several weeks or months in order for them to become self-aware. In this way, the self-help culture makes itself most apparent.
The self-help industry has been making strides in addressing other areas of mental health and well-being. Several self-help groups are now offering services in areas such as alcohol or drug treatment, depression and anxiety, healthy relationships, weight loss and more. This is a positive sign for those who are advocates of healthier living, and who are concerned about the state of the self-help industry.
However, not all self-help materials are beneficial. According to critics, there are two reasons for this. First, many self-help materials contain bad-to-ok people. Unfortunately, there are many bad-to-ok people who will tell anyone who will listen that it is OK to be a bad person. Second, there are also self-help materials which have been written by those who are not genuinely concerned about helping others. In this way, the self-help industry is perpetuating its own problems by selling ineffective material which does not help its members.
